WASHINGTON — There was never going to be a spot on the schedule for the Phillies to underline or circle. There was never going to be a particular week, a certain series, an individual game. There would not be one final score, not one set of published standings.

There wasn’t going to be anything in specific that would tell them what they needed to know. It was just going to happen. So Thursday, upon a 4-2 loss to the Washington Nationals and the extension of a losing streak to six, it just happened.

They realized that their season was down to its last gasp.

“It’s been time,” Ryne Sandberg said. “It’s been time to straighten it out. And it’s been time to get hot as a group.”

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And from Jimmy Rollins, there was this: “It’s getting out of control now. But we have a chance to go out and change that tomorrow.”

That’s about right, all of it. It’s getting out of control. And it’s time. And if the Phillies are going to salvage one last blast out of an era of 11 champagne celebrations, they must begin Friday and with a weekend series in Cincinnati. It is that urgent. Because the Phillies will return to Citizens Bank Park Tuesday to play the San Diego Padres. And by then, their fans are entitled to one of two things: Better play the Phils have shown in a six-game N.L. East tumble … or significant changes in the rotting system. One or the other. Better play. Or something different.

The general manager is not going to be fired, not now, not soon. Sandberg’s status as a legend of the sport should buy him an extra layer of job security — to the end of the year, at least, probably longer. But Steve Henderson is the hitting coach, and if accomplished franchise jewels Milt Thompson and Greg Gross can be fired for an ever-continuing slump, then there is precedent for that kind of a change. Ruben Amaro has made recent noises about certain players having minor-league options. Dom Brown, his average down to .206 after being an All-Star last year, is eligible. A move-for-the-sake-of-a-move of that level could provide helpful reverberations. Amaro could be inventive and concoct a minor trade. Something.

Sandberg has tried all manner of lineups to little success, batting his catcher second, dumping Ryan Howard down, using multiple leadoff hitters. He sounds like he may make a stronger commitment to John Mayberry, who has hit a homer in each of the last two games.

Hey, keep the celebration down.

“I’m definitely frustrated — frustrated that sometimes we haven’t been able to put a game together with pitching and offense,” Sandberg said. “In the meantime, our bullpen has been on a good roll for about eight or nine days now. Now they’re stepping up and putting zeroes up and doing a good job. We need the whole package together.

“We need to do it for a series, and we need to do it for some games for a stretch.”

The Phillies are 10 games below .500, stuck in last place in what should have been a negotiable division. If they win 68 of their last 104 games — a .650 pace — they will finish with 92 wins. So already, even in early June, that’s where they have landed if they expect to seriously contend for the playoffs.

“It’s not concerning — it’s a little more than that,” Rollins said. “You just have to find it.”

Until Thursday, the Phillies reacted to losses with patience and optimism. “We’ve got another game tomorrow,” A.J. Burnett had said after an 8-4 loss a night earlier. “That’s the good thing. It’s not over. The sun is going to come up. It might be a little cloudy. But we’ve got another game tomorrow. We have a chance to get a ‘W’ tomorrow, to get back on the right foot. That’s the way I look at it.”

That’s how it seemed Wednesday. By Thursday, those clouds had burst, the manager saying it was time, the shortstop suggesting an out-of-control situation.

The crisis point never was scheduled. But that’s just how fast it arrived.